Generally, golfers use at least one golf glove on their leading hand when playing golf. A majority of golfers use gloves to improve their grip of the golf glove relative to the bare human hand, which often provides less grip especially when sweating or when club grips are wet. When a glove is used to provide a more secure grip, the golfer wearing the glove correspondingly has more control of the golf club, thus theoretically enabling improvement of their golf game. The glove can also provide some added protection from vibration and abrasion, although such protection is relatively minimized by the thinness of the glove material.
The conventional golf glove is formed of a very thin leather and/or synthetic material, that enables the user to feel the grip of the club through the glove. Common golf glove materials include leather, synthetic leather, spandex, blends with spandex, elastane, and other flexible and/or stretchable material. The material provides a smooth, wrinkle-free interface between the user's hand and the grip of the golf club.
In general, the materials similar to and including leather provide better gripping properties but are less flexible, while the materials similar to and including spandex provide better flexibility but are more slippery, affecting grip and adhesion.
Accordingly, golf glove design involves a balancing of such features as improving tackiness or adhesion to the golf glove grip, while also providing flexibility to the user's hand where desired, and maintaining a high degree of touch sensitivity enabling the user to feel the grip of the golf club in certain fingers during play. The interrelation between some of these features with each other can influence the final fit and performance of the golf glove. Such combination of features and characteristics has resulted in a large number of different golf glove designs, each with its own subtle differences and advantages.
In some instances certain features or characteristics desired in a golf glove can compete with one another to create a situation where sacrifices are made in the overall design of the golf glove. As such, certain performance aspects may be the focus of one golf glove design, while other performance aspects are the focus of another golf glove design. Two such performance aspects are the ability to move one's fingers in an unrestricted manner while still providing adequate support features within the glove.